Melfort “City of Northern Lights” is situated in east central Saskatchewan’s parkland belt surrounded by the famous black loam of the fertile Carrot River Valley. Here, agriculture has been the number one industry since the first settlement days in 1892.
As a hub of northeast Saskatchewan, Melfort services a very strong trading area.
Melfort was incorporated as a village in 1903, achieved town status on July 1, 1907, and became Saskatchewan's 12 th city on September 2 nd, 1980.
Melfort is known as the “City of Northern Lights” because of the spectacular aurora borealis seen in the night skies for much of the year. The Northern Lights Palace offers spectacles of another sort. With its large multi-purpose arena and indoor leisure wave pool, water slide, whirlpool,sauna and swimming lanes, the complex is the focal point of recreational facilities for northeastern Saskatchewan.

Quality of Life

In today’s stressful world of fast-pace living, Melfort offers a refuge – a refuge from excessive crime, traffic tie-ups and anonymity. It is a city big enough to offer most of the services that are found in a large city, yet Melfort hasn’t grown to the point where the citizen is just a statistic or a face in the crowd.

The City of Melfort is minutes away from some of Mother Nature’s greatest handi-works – forest, lakes and beaches. Located just minutes away, on the banks of the Saskatchewan River, Wapiti Regional Park provides both winter and summer recreation. As gateway to the Hanson Lake Road, Melfort prides itself on a fine educational system. Facilities include 4 public elementary schools, including the newly constructed Maude Burke Elementary School. Melfort & Unit Comprehensive Collegiate and Cumberland Regional College provide a variety of educational opportunities for adults in the area. Cumberland Regional College also offers a full range of first year Arts and Science classes from the University of Saskatchewan, University of Regina and classes from SIAST.

Economy

Melfort is located in one of the richest, most productive farmland areas in Canada. Melfort is a leading agricultural service centre, with most industries in the City being agriculturally related.
These include meat processing, feed mills, seed cleaning plants, the distribution of farm chemicals and the largest grain storage capacity in North East Saskatchewan. The Agriculture Melfort Research Station in Melfort serves approximately 10 million acres (10% of Canada’s agricultural land). The potential for Melfort is unlimited given its fertile soil and favorable weather conditions.

The climate and soil conditions allow for a wide range of agricultural products. Crops grown in the district include wheat, barley, canola, peas, flax, lentils, alfalfa (for dehydration and seed production), canaryseed, rye, various forage crops (much for seed production) as well as spices and other specialty crops. Livestock production is mostly cattle and hogs but does include some specialty livestock such as elk, deer and wild boars.

The sale and service of agricultural equipment and supplies is a key component of the retail sales in the City. As the hub of northeast Saskatchewan, Melfort serves a strong trading area population of 60,000. Services required for its residents, rural neighbours and travelling public are readily available from the merchants either in the downtown core, along the highway corridors, or in the three malls. Friendly merchants are eager to serve your needs.

Besides agriculture Melfort is located near the Fort a la Corne (FALC) forest which has gained national and international renown for the growing diamond exploration activities that have taken place since the early 1990’s. The forest has been shown to possess one of the world’s largest kimberlite fields with individual kimberlites ranging up to 240 hectares. Exploration has revealed 70% of these kimberlites to be diamond bearing with most containing macro diamonds. Results from the exploration work have continued to be positive with more resources being put into exploration annually with currently over 30 firms having claims in the FALC area. Melfort supports the exploration work and is poised to be part of a new Saskatchewan diamond industry.

Manufacturing has continued to grow in the community and region. Melfort is home to a number of small manufacturers and processors including Bornhorst Welding, Worley Indoor Iron Sales, Thomson Meats and recently BP Oil Fab Ltd. has joined the community.

The future is bright for additional processing as NESCO Meats continues its rapid project development and plans to be harvesting and processing multi-species in the community by 2007. Bourgault Industries in St.Brieux is a very large employer in the region as is Northern Steel located in Tisdale. Manufacturing in Melfort and the region has a very bright future.

Tourism is a major industry with an estimated 12.2 million dollars spent annual in Melfort and area by travelers.

Despite the laid-back atmosphere of the City of Melfort, one will find Melfort to be progressive with a business friendly atmosphere. Melfort residents are active in the community and have a strong work ethic and cooperate as neighbours to build a bright future for their community.